While partaking in the loathsome boredom of grass cutting, my mind often wanders from the matter in hand and onto more interesting (subjectively) topics. Such was the case today as I was thinking about, among other things, cycling. Who could have guessed?
One thought which entered my head was how windy it was while I was partaking in the grass shortening exercise. That reminded me of my recent change in cycling attire. When it is (what passes for) summer I'd normally wear my bib-shorts with a short sleeved jersey directly over them. Earlier this year, however, I had a bit of a chest problem and was 'laid up' for about two months. This seemed to happen very soon after a cycle. I wondered if the two were related. I still don't know if they were linked but it led to my buying a couple of Craft sleeveless base layers. I haven't had any chest problems since.
Although it seems counter-intuative to wear another layer on a hot day (not that we get a surplus of such here) I've found it beneficial to have a thin base layer on. In my ignorance I feared I might overheat but that hasn't been the case at all. I suppose, if the professionals wear base layers in hot conditions, putting out the effort they do, there almost has to be something in it and the chances of my getting too hot here, at my low speeds, are fairly minimal.
Another topic which popped (or pooped) into my mind was my GPS. I'm continually fascinated by having a GPS on a bicycle. I know it's not especially new technology now but I'm easily impressed and, to me, it's quite the wonder.
I was pleased to discover a simple way to export routes from MapMyRide onto my Edge 800. I had been plotting a course on MapMyRide, exporting it as a '.gpx' file (for some reason it no longer exports directly in the '.crs' format) and then going to GPSies to convert that over to a '.crs' file and uploading that into Garmin Training Centre so I could then upload the course into my Edge. That was all a bit 'clunky' and pointlessly time consuming. Thanks to typing some query I can't remember into Google and clicking on a random website, I now know an easier (and probably obvious to most) way to put courses on my Edge.
All I have to do is save off the '.gpx' file from MapMyRide and copy & paste it into the 'Garmin > New files' folder on the Edge. As if by magic, the GPS does the rest and realises it's a route. It doesn't seem to show elevation in the route but that's only a small downside. For me it's more important to be able to use it for navigation.
As an example of how MapMyRide works, here's a route I just mapped:
On the topic of the Edge 800 and elevation, that's still being a bit of a pain in the bum. A few times now it has got my initial elevation completely wrong. Sometimes it starts me off a couple of hundred (or more) feet below my actual elevation. It keeps count correctly during the cycle but everything is a couple of hundred feet low. It works sometimes and doesn't others. I just need to remember to check and manually set the elevation (which is simple to do in one of the device's menus) if it does go wrong. Sadly, I'm forgetful.
No comments:
Post a Comment